While the trade deadline is still a couple weeks away, today's as good a day as any to make the first move in a "scorched earth" rebuild. And while it'd be irresponsible - nay, stupid - to discuss who won or who lost this trade this early, we certainly can discuss whether the Leafs got fair value back for their biggest trade deadline chip and, arguably, their second-biggest trade deadline chip.

As reported by Elliotte Friedman and Damien Cox on Hockey Night in Canada's Saturday Headlines segment, Toronto Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf continues to draw interest from the Los Angeles Kings, but could another team be in on him as well?

There are, of course, some perceived untouchables. Pretty much everyone agrees that players like Morgan Rielly, William Nylander, and any future draft picks shouldn't be moved for any reason, while others include Kessel in that group.

We asked the TLN staff to share their opinion on the idea of trading Kessel - here's what we got...

While the rebuild is most certainly on, today's iteration of the Toronto Maple Leafs still has to, perhaps unfortunately, play hockey games. They'll do that tonight when the Leafs travel to Long Island to take on John Tavares and the shockingly fantastic New York Islanders.

New York carries a 35-18-1 record and 71 points into tonight's match up, tying them with the Detroit Red Wings for 6th in the league standings. The score a ton of goals (fourth most in the league), and have a deep forward group that, even without Kyle Okposo, is hard to shut down.

That being said, the Islanders aren't without flaws. They allow the second fewest shots against per game in the NHL, but their 2.78 goals against per game still ranks 23rd. Their penalty kill is also horrifying, but for both teams - their 72.5% penalty kill percentage is worst in the league, while their eight shorthanded goals is best.

David Clarkson has been a healthy scratch for two games in a row. Phil Kessel just had one of the worst games of his Toronto Maple Leafs career. Pretty much the entire roster is useless right now, save Morgan Rielly, who is talented and wonderful and will lead us to the promised land. Something must be done. Someone must pay. Someone must... sit in the press box.